


All At Once

by BagtheBagisnotaBag



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alien Biology, Body Horror, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Meteorstuck, Sickfic, Troll Culture (Homestuck), Troll Puberty, Whump, Xeno, rated for body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 20:20:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21042185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BagtheBagisnotaBag/pseuds/BagtheBagisnotaBag
Summary: Karkat goes through some sort of troll puberty and leaves Dave behind in the process.Dave is all sorts of not having a good time right now.TG: do trolls get the fluGA: I Do Not Know What The Flu IsTG: because i think karkat has the troll flu or somethingTG: i found him in food block d and hes passed out on the table and burning up and his skins all tacky for some reason what do i doTG: oh god is he even breathing i didnt think to check





	All At Once

You are curled up on the couch watching a movie, one of the troll romance ones Karkat has a bajillion of saved on his insect laptop. Karkat is pressed up against your side. The both of you are cuddled up under your cape which you’re using as a blanket.

You're in one of the communal lounges that surprisingly few of the other people on the meteor frequent considering it’s close to the part of the meteor you all live. You tend to find the others in that huge library right near Kanaya and Rose’s room or in any of the many kitchens (alchemizing rooms you shoved furniture into) near people’s sleeping quarters.

But you and Karkat use this room all the time. This is one of the first places you go when you’re not hanging out with the Mayor in Can Town or in each other's rooms. It’s almost like you’ve inadvertently claimed this space as your own. Like how that creepy clown troll claimed the vents. 

Don’t think about that. You give a slight shudder.

Karkat shifts but doesn’t say anything at your weird movement and you glance away from the movie you’ve stopped paying attention to look at him. Oh. He’s fallen asleep. 

He looks soft in his sleep - all his anger lines smoothed out - it’s the only time you ever see him without some sort of intense emotion radiating off of him. He’s all spitfire, loud and wild and emotive. You like that about him - his commanding energy. 

You like this Karkat too, relaxed and quiet. 

You know he has trouble sleeping, so you don’t wake him. Though, now that you think about it, he’s been sleeping a lot more lately. This isn’t the first time he’s fallen asleep on you in the middle of a movie the last few weeks. The first time he fell asleep on you during a move was less than a month ago. Before that nothing less than you antagonizing him into a fury could get him to miss even one scene. He loves his movies. 

It used to be you who conked out in the middle of movie nights. You pull him a little tighter against your side. He’s so warm. 

You aren’t really watching the movie anymore. You haven’t been for a while. Your own eyes droop. It's cozy curled up under the blankets. You’re too comfortable. It would take a major feat of willpower not to fall asleep. Look at Karkat. He has the most willpower of anyone you know and he's conked the fuck out. You feel like your missing out with how comfortable Karkat looks.

Your blink lazily at the bright screen of the laptop, and let you eyes slide shut. Sleep time.

*

A few days later you’re up early looking for a drink. You woke up parched as all fuck and only found empty bottles under your bed. Looks like you need to restock your juice supplies. Rose never managed to make apple juice so you've had to settle for this juice substitute that's the closest she got. It's passable but on gog the first thing you're going to do when you get to the new session is demand from John his apple juice. No bro hugs no fist bumps no nothing. You know where your priorities lie.

You stumble into the kitchen ready to alchemize a shit ton of the sadly apple-less juice beverage. Karkat is face down on the table. A half-eaten plate of grubloaf sits in front of him. Did he fall asleep here?

Weird. He’s curled up on the chair, his legs pulled up to his chest. That has got to be the most uncomfortable way to sleep. Though you know that trolls prefer either green slime goo or piles of pointy objects to sleep in so what do you know? Maybe that chair is actually comfortable as shit.

You bang around the alchemiter, seeing if the noise will wake him up. You make juice and something similar to toaster waffles. When you turn around, loot in hand, Karkat hasn’t moved.

Lame. Karkat has been sleeping way too much lately. You slump into the only other chair at the table across from him and start eating your waffles.

You’re up early because Karkat had complained of being tired last night and had skived off to bed. Having nothing better to do, you had taken an early night yourself. But that was a solid 10 hours ago and you’re fully awake now. Karkat is passed the fuck out which is a shame because you and him have plans today as well. The Mayor needs help with developing the industrial district of Can Town. 

By the time you finish your waffles and juice Karkat hasn’t moved. You poke him right between the horns, “Hey, Karkat. Wake up.” He doesn’t move. You shake him lightly by the shoulder, “Come on buddy, we have plans today. Ones that don’t involve drooling all over communal surfaces. Urgh. What’s on your shirt?”

You pull your hand away and it sticks for a second. “Gross, dude. Wake up.” You cup his cheek and frown when you feel the heat coming off of him. He’s always felt warm to you but this is more than that. He’s too warm. “Shit dude, are you sick?” you ask. 

He doesn’t answer. It’s only then that the dread starts pooling in your stomach. Shit. What if he’s really sick. Your hand sticks slightly when you pull it away from his cheek and fuck. What is that? Humans feel clammy when they’re sick, sure, but this feels more like-like his skin-

Fuck. You have to get Kanaya. You pull out your phone and start texting furiously.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering grimAuxiliatrix [GA] \--

TG: holy shit kanaya  
TG: kanaya  
TG: kanaya  
TG: kanaya  
TG: kanaya please wake up i need your help  
\-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] joined the chat! --  
GA: You Always Say That And It Is Always Something Stupid  
GA: Stop Messaging Me This Early  
GA: I Am Going Back To Sleep Now  
TG: no please its actually serious this time  
TG: do trolls get the flu  
GA: I Do Not Know What The Flu Is  
TG: because i think karkat has the troll flu or something   
TG: i found him in food block d and hes passed out on the table and burning up and his skins all tacky for some reason what do i do  
TG: oh god is he even breathing i didnt think to check  
GA: Calm Down Dave  
GA: You Are Panicking  
GA: I Will Come Take A Look At Him  


\-- grimAuxiliatrix [GA] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] \--

You drop your phone down on the table and grip your hair, thinking of the way his skin stuck to your hand. How’d you not see that he was sick before now? You guess it just crept up on him. The last few days the two of you have spent more and more time curled up on the couch, or lounging in each other's rooms because every time you suggested going out and doing anything more physical Karkat had just groaned and rolled over.

You didn’t think anything of it. 

Fuck. You lean over Karkat, trying to see if he’s breathing but he’s face down on the table. You’ll have to lift his head or something. Man, how do you do this? You’re just hovering over him, your hands are shaking. Should you just lift him up by the hair? That seems kind of wrong. But what else can you do?

Your mouth is pressed into a hard line and you grip him by the hair. Even his hair feels sticky. Not greasy like you would get from unwashed human hair but sticky - clinging together in clumps. You lift his face up and almost drop it back down when you feel the way his skin clings to the table before pulling away. 

“What seems to be the problem?” Kanaya asks from the doorway, you startle and drop Karkat back down face first on the table. Kanaya sweeps over, Rose at her side, and peers down at the unconscious Karkat.

“Fuck if I know. He’s burning up and he won’t wake.” You say. Rose steps over to your side. She’s wrapped up in a nightgown where Kanaya is in a simple dress. Neither of them have makeup on. They must have hurried over here after getting out of bed.

Kanaya hums and brushes Karkat’s hair away from his face sniffing her hand when she pulls it away. “He doesn’t smell sick.” She says, head tilted to the side, thinking. “But there is something strange about his smell. It reminds me of the brooding caverns. I wonder - Oh.”

“What.” You say, desperate to know if Karkat's going to be OK. You’re gripping your own arms and hunched over. Rose pats you on the back awkwardly in an approximation of comfort, waiting as Kanaya inspects Karkat. You force your arms back to your side, uncurling. 

“This should not be happening so soon. I would have expected another sweep at the earliest.” She says.

“So what’s the verdict, Doctor Maryam?” Rose asks, “Is he going to live?”

“Oh, yes. He’ll be fine.” Kanaya says, stepping over to Rose and giving her a quick kiss on the lips. You slump in relief and swipe a hand through your hair. “He’s just moulting is all.”

You tense up again at that. Moulting? That doesn’t sound good at all.

“Ah. I see, yes.” Rose says, “Just moulting. I’m afraid we humans don’t moult. You’ll have to elucidate.”

“What, is he going to shed his skin and grow a new one?” You ask, feeling queasy. ”Was that stickiness his skin coming off? Gross. I touched it.”

“No, nothing like that. His skin is just forming a cocoon. Though it’s not nearly done. It needs more time to form. He must have started his moult just a few hours ago.” She looks down at Karkat again. “I’m surprised one of us didn’t catch on to this earlier. He’s been eating and sleeping more for perigees now. Then again, it is awfully early for him to pupate. I didn’t think anything of it. It’s not like there’s much else to do on the meteor _except_ eat and sleep.”

“So. He’s fine then?” you ask. He’s still face down on the table. You didn’t actually confirm if he was breathing or not but neither did Kanaya and she’s gone back to making doe eyes at Rose rather than being concerned.

“He’s started to pupate. There is nothing else we can do for him now. We just have to wait until he finishes.” She gives an elegant shrug. “Don’t call me if anything changes. I’m going back to sleep.” Kanaya says, heading back towards her room.

“He’ll be fine, Dave.” Rose says from the door, “I trust Kanaya’s judgment. Just think of it like Troll puberty. Except instead of the years of hell we went through they get it all at once.”

You grimace. _Went_ isn't how you would phrase it. You’re still going through human puberty, but you’re not about to correct Her. Rose smirks and follows Kanaya. 

Now what do you do? Your best friend is passed out for however long troll puberty takes him and everyone else is paired off. You guess you could go find Terezi. But you don’t really want to have to deal with Vriska this early in the morning and there is no way in fuck you’re hanging out with Gamzee in the vents.

You end up spending the rest of the day with the Mayor, you did promise the little guy that you would help him with Can Town today. It takes more than double the time it would have with Karkat here to set up the industrial district, not because Karkat would have been much help but because you have to explain to the Mayor why Karkat isn’t with you. The Mayor seems more concerned than you were when you explain it to him and you end up scrambling after the little guy when he scurries out to check on Karkat himself.

You scoop him up and fly him through the halls because it’s faster. When you get to the kitchen, Karkat is still where he was slumped over the table, knees pulled up to his chest.

The Mayor wiggles out of your grip and over to Karkat. “It’s allright, little dude.” You say. You know how he feels. The Mayor grips the edge of the table and pulls himself up on his toes to look at Karkat better. “Kanaya says he’s going to be OK. He’s just got to sleep for a little bit.”

You must sound more bummed out than you mean to because the Mayor come over to you to pat you on the arm.

It’s quiet in Can Town after that. The Mayor doesn’t talk and there’s no one to bounce the conversation off of. You mostly end up talking at the Mayor while the two of you work, your voice the only one in the room. You miss Karkat already.

*

The next morning when you enter the kitchen Karkat is gone and in his place is a humanoid (trollaniod) gray webbed cocoon. Your gut sinks so fast you sway for a second where you're standing in the doorway. It has dark patches where his hair and clothes were but is otherwise a monochrome gray pod sitting where your best friend should be. 

You step further into the room. The skin of the pod is actually a tight mesh of fibers the same color as Karkat’s skin. You can still easily pick out the shape of Karkat under the web of the cocoon but his limbs have all fused to his body and his head has receded into his neck.

You suddenly aren’t hungry anymore and stumble back to your room.

*

When the horrors of what you best friend is becoming are finally overcome by the dark pit of hunger in your stomach you can't ignore you go back to find Karkat's cocoon has progressed. The colors have merged further together and the outline of Karkat curled in on himself has smoothed off. 

It looks more like some Lord of the Rings giant spider horror shit than a person and somehow that's easier to look at than when you could clearly make out Karkat under there.

*

It's been almost two days now.

You wander around the meteor for a bit. Rose and Kanaya tolerate your presence for a few hours, aware of Karkat's predicament. Rose is knitting and Kanaya sewing. Somehow the topic keeps coming back to Karkat.

"Have you checked on him recently?" you ask Kanaya. She pulls the pair of trousers she's adjusting out of the sewing machine and snips the thread with her teeth.

"I can't say I have. I am sure he will be fine. He has pupated before in more hostile places and that did not kill him." 

"It is intriguing though." Rose says. "The way even his clothes have been swallowed up. It's a very dramatic transformation."

"Yes. That is normal. The cloth is organic, unlike your human clothing. I've noticed how your clothes tend not to be and I still can't quite place what the god tier outfits are made of. I think I would have had to cut it off him if Karkat had pupated in that."

"So he is absorbing the cloth then?" Rose asks.

"How long do you think this whole pupation thing will take." You ask, kind of grossed out by all the talk of Karkat absorbing anything. Don't think about him liquefying - ah fuck. You shudder.

"I am not quite sure." Kanaya says, "Another few weeks at least. Pupation takes time but Karkat always has been small. It is hard to say. I should have enough time to finish altering his clothes at any rate."

You eye the black pants she's already altering. "How exactly is he going to change?" you ask.

"It is the pre-adult moult so, taller, broader, darker. His eyes should change to his blood color which, knowing him, he will hate. Other than that we will have to wait and see."

You leave a while later when they start giving each other long looks over their handcrafts. You don't want to be there either for when the sloppy makeouts start.

*

You get desperate enough to hang out with Vriska and Terezi once. When you explain why you're hanging out with them and not Karkat, Vriska starts cackling and demands to see him.

You tense but don't say anything when Terezi pokes the Karkat cocoon with her cane. The cocoon has transformed into a solid gray lump in the last few days and has fused itself to the chair and the table.

"What are the chances he will be taller than me when he comes out?" Vriska asks. "It would be funny if he wasn't."

"Should I flip a coin?" Terezi asks her, "Scratch, he's taller." She flips it up into the air. Vriska snatches it before it can land. 

"Let's bet on it. If he's shorter than me, you go flarping with me. If he's taller, I'll play one of your stupid legislacerator games."

Terezi grins. "Deal."

"Hey, Vriska." You say, "Can you hear him think in there with your psychic troll powers?"

"Hmm." She says, pressing her fingers to her temple and staring at the Karkat blob, "No, nothing." She says after a second, "It's lucky that he can't think. I wouldn't want to be conscious while my organs rearranged themselves."

You decide not to go with them when they make plans to go explore deeper parts of the lab. It's hard being a third wheel.

*

You eat dinner at the table with Karkat's cocoon. The outside web of fibres has turned into more of a shell over the last few days which is slightly less disturbing than when it was soft and looked like him. 

This sucks. This is worse than human puberty. He gets it over with all at once, sure, but at what cost. 

You find yourself in Karkat's room, not wanting to see the others. You've been moping all over the place the last few days and even you can tell it's dragging the others down. Vriska had made sure to tell you to your face to fuck off, saying, "Go be a loser somewhere else. It's not our job to babysit you while Karkat's pupating."

You pull up the movie you were watching with Karkat a week ago before this whole thing started. The one you never finished and instead the two of you fell asleep. 

You've seen it before, of course, but you have nothing better to do so you start it over again.

You end up falling asleep in Karkat's pile.

*

You spend the next few days in a haze of music, only pulling your headphones off to eat and piss. You avoid the kitchen where Karkat is still encased in his own body and use one of the other alchemiters instead. 

Rose comes over once to see if you're alright but she never has been the best at comforting people and you're too busy trying to keep yourself together to give her any substantial responses.

"He'll be back soon." She says.

You don't turn around. "I know. But he's not here now."

She leaves you to your music.

*

It's been a week and a half and you're sitting in the kitchen watching the Karkat cocoon. It's a darker shade of gray than when it started and has developed a shiny outer coating.

It's hard to believe your friend is in there. 

You hate that your friend is in there. 

You're doodling a shitty SBaHJ comic. You're not sure what it's about but you're hoping you can mash some of the shitty doodles into one coherent page later. 

It's a deep-fried Karkat. He looks like Sweet Bro but with a gray color swap. For some reason he has a cowboy hat on - you guess you thought hats equalled adult - and he has a 12-pack of abs.

The others keep saying this is Karkats adult moult or something? You're not actually sure where you're going with this. If Karkat could see the picture he'd be yelling at you about your shitty caricature of him.

You wonder if his voice will change. If troll puberty is anything like human puberty that is. 

Now that you think about it, you don't actually know what an adult troll looks like. The actors in Karkat's troll movies just look like color swapped humans, especially troll Will Smith, who you have seen a lot of. You honestly wouldn't care if he looked like troll Barack Obama as long as you got him back in one piece.

*

The Mayor has been a huge comfort over the last few weeks though you've spent less time helping him build and more time lying on the ground with him getting him to listen to your new mixes. You're not sure what to make of his feedback. He seems to enjoy each song with equal enthusiasm. 

You go down to the kitchen one day to see color coming back into the Karkat cocoon and excitedly pester Kanaya about it. 

You think she only comes over to get you to shut up.

"Yes it does look like it is progressing nicely. I am no docterror, but I would estimate that Karkat will be back with us within a few short nights."

You slump, "That long, huh? So I got excited for nothing."

"There is no point trying to hurry the process. He will emerge when he is ready."

*

You spend most of the next few days in that kitchen. You watch movies and listen to music. The outline of Karkat through the mesh of the cocoon gets clearer and clearer every day. 

You want to tear him out of there but you're afraid of hurting him. He doesn't look like he's breathing in there - he hasn't looked like he was breathing at any point while pupating.

You fall asleep at the table more than once, unwilling to leave.

*

"Dave." Someone's poking your cheek. You twitch but settle back down. 

"Leave me alone." You say. It comes out as a mumble.

"Wake up, douchebag."

You blink your eyes, a niggling thought in the back of your head telling you something important is happening. 

When you squint open you eyes Karkat is frowning down at you. His eyes are red. He looks as confused as you are. "Fuck, Karkat. You're awake." 

"Yeah. And naked." He says. His voice has deepened, still as gravelly as before. You sit up. He's huddled on his chair behind the table, gripping his own arms. The thin skin of the shredded cocoon is on the ground around him. You spend a few seconds just looking, taking in the changes. His skin is a couple of shades darker and he looks bigger than before, even huddled in his seat like he is - taller.

But it looks like his troll puberty took a lot out of him. His jawline is stronger and his shoulders broader but he looks thin, almost unhealthily so. His hair is sticking up in messy tufts - more unruly than his usual 'do. But the constant dark circles under his eyes have faded. "Have you been sleeping next to my cocoon the whole time?" he asks, "Shit, Dude. That's messed up."

You laugh. "It's good to see you too, man. How do you feel?"

"Cold." He says, "And hungry. That seems to be the only thing that's stayed the same from before I fell asleep."

He runs a hand through his hair and grimaces. His claws have gone back to sharp black points. You know he usually keeps them short. His horns haven't got much bigger. You can't get over how red his eyes are, how strange his face looks with it new sharper shape. "Let's get you back to your room."

You lend him your cape to wrap around himself and your shoulder to lean on when he sways the first time he stands up. He's gained almost a head in height - shit - he's almost as tall as you now.

It takes him a while to get used to his new feet but by the time you're stumbling through his bedroom doorway together he's almost back to his regular sure pace.

"Kanaya fixed your clothes up for you." You say. There's a pile of neatly folded black clothes by the door that's been there since week one. "She works fast."

"I'll have to make her a thank you gift. Though fuck knows what I'd give her." He says, picking through his clothes. He pulls on one of the generic black pants he always wears - not to be confused by the generic gray pants he also always wears. "How long was I out?" he asks.

You can see the bones and muscles on his back shifting under his skin. It's such a relief compared to seeing the still gray shell of the cocoon.

"Shit, Dude." You say. "So fucking long." He turns to look at you.

You step forward and hug him. He wobbles back on his unstable feet. He feels solid and warm under your grip and you let out a shaky breath into his shoulder, trying to keep down the lump clogging your throat.

"Oh." He says. He hesitates for a second then hugs you back just as tightly. "Sorry."

"Next time you feel like going through troll puberty, you warn a guy beforehand. That shit was wack." You say. Ignoring the emotional wobble in your voice. A tear rolls down your cheek. You ignore that too.

"Sorry." He says again, quieter, he presses his own face into your shoulder. You don't let go for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> *hits you with mallet* whump check


End file.
